Rebook Christmas light customers in August, not November, and price year two from the run types on last year's drawing, not as a discount off last year's total. On GlowBid's default rate card a re-install on customer-owned lights is $3 per foot of roofline against $8 with lights included, so year two lands a bit over a third of year one. On a lease, the season 2 price is already in the signed schedule.
The three year-two cases at a glance#
Who owns the lights decides the price. GlowBid's default rates are shown as the example; installers set their own.
| Case |
What year one was |
What year two is |
Default rate example |
| Customer bought the lights in year one |
Lights, install, takedown |
Labour only: re-install and takedown on their strands |
Seasonal service line: $3 roofline, $3.50 peak, $2 ground, $2.50 tree, $1.50 jump per foot |
| Your lights, one season at a time |
Lights supplied, install, takedown, storage |
Same per-foot price as year one, minus the one-time lines (timer, first-year setup) |
C9 seasonal line: $8 roofline, $9 peak, $5 ground, $6 tree, $4 jump per foot |
| Signed lease, 1, 3 or 5 seasons |
Season 1 of the schedule |
Season 2 of the schedule, already agreed |
Flat (same price), declining (10 percent lower), or escalator (3 to 5 percent higher) |
When should I start rebooking?#
The first message goes out the first week of August, and the groundwork for it is done in January. LightQuoter's rebook guide (April 2, 2026) runs the same calendar, July or August for first offers, September follow-up, October final call, and LightMaster's pipeline nudges you from August to November by default. Big Star Lights, a Canadian supplier, goes earlier: a follow-up one to two weeks after takedown and 10 percent off for anyone who pre-books by March.
| When |
What goes out |
Why then |
| Takedown day, January |
Photo of the labelled bin or the bare roofline, "see you in the fall" |
The customer sees the lights come down clean; the storage record starts here |
| One to two weeks after takedown |
Thank-you email, review ask, early re-book offer |
The season is fresh; nobody is competing for their attention |
| First week of August |
The renewal offer with this season's price and a book-now link |
Your calendar is empty, so the best weeks go to whoever answers first |
| Mid September |
Text to everyone who has not answered |
Plenty of people were away in August |
| First week of October |
Last call, with the calendar stated honestly |
After this the dates left are the ones nobody wants |
We take the August date seriously because the calendar fills from the top. The customer who answers on August 8 gets the week before the neighbours' party. The customer who answers on October 20 gets whatever is left, and some of them walk when they hear it. Our takedown guide covers the January end of this table.
How do I price the year-two re-install?#
By run type, from last year's drawing, with the product cost taken out and nothing else taken out. The ladder time on a 120 ft roofline is the same whether the strands are yours or theirs.
Customer-owned lights. This is a labour-only job with its own line on the rate card, not a percentage off year one. GlowBid's default seasonal service line is $3 per foot of roofline and ridge line, $3.50 on peaks, $2 on the ground, $2.50 on tree wrap and $1.50 per foot of jump, with the same 15 percent peak premium and 10 percent storey premium as every other line. The per-foot pricing guide explains why that sits at roughly a third of the lights-included rate. Add two lines the first year did not have: takedown, bundled or on its own, and a replacement line for the strands that died in the bin, priced when you test them on install day.
Your lights, one season at a time. The per-foot price is the same as year one, because you are supplying the product again. Drop the one-time lines: the timer they now own, the first-year setup. Add storage if you carried it over the summer and it is not already in the rate. Say in the message that the price is the same and why.
A signed lease. The season 2 price was decided at signing. Flat keeps one number every season; declining drops it, 10 percent in our template default; escalator raises it 3 to 5 percent. The multi-year lease template has the schedule table and the renewal clause. There is no rebook conversation on a lease, only a reminder that the crew is coming.
The increase. LightQuoter's guide says 3 to 5 percent a year "is expected" and cites nothing; our lease template's default escalator is 3 percent. Whatever your number, put it in the August message, with the reason in one sentence. The customer who reads "up 3 percent for product and insurance" in August signs. The customer who finds it on the November invoice calls.
What do I say in the August message?#
One email, then two texts. Merge fields are in braces. Under CASL, a paid install gives you implied consent for two years from that purchase, so last year's customer can be messaged without a new ask; the message still needs your company name, a way to reach you and an unsubscribe line, and a STOP has to take effect within 10 business days. US installers should read the TCPA notes in our quote follow-up sequence. Not legal advice.
August email, subject: Your lights for {season year}, {street}
Hi {first name},
Your strands came out of storage this week and tested fine. Here is this season's price for {street}: {total}, the same runs as last year ({footage} ft of roofline, {peaks} peaks), {price note: same as last year / up 3 percent for product and insurance}.
Install weeks open right now: {week 1}, {week 2}, {week 3}. The first to answer gets first pick, and the link below books it with the deposit: {quote link}.
Anything you want changed this year, a second colour, the tree by the driveway, reply and I will re-draw it before you book.
{your name}, {company}, {phone}
You are getting this because we installed your lights last season. Reply "unsubscribe" and we will stop.
September text
Hi {first name}, {your name} at {company}. Your {street} lights are ready to go back up. Same runs as last year, {total}. {week 2} and {week 3} still open: {quote link}. Reply STOP to opt out.
October last call
Hi {first name}, {your name} at {company}. Last note on the lights this year. We have {week 4} left and then we are into December. If this is not the year, reply "skip" and I will keep your strands in storage for next season. Reply STOP to opt out.
The "skip" line matters. A customer who skips a season on good terms is a customer next August; a customer who felt pushed is not. The CASL templates have the Canadian wording for every line above.
Worked example: one house from year one to year two#
A 120 ft roofline, two 18 ft peaks and a 6 ft jump, drawn once in year one and priced on GlowBid's default rate card (installers set their own). Year one is C9 seasonal with the lights included and a timer. Year two the customer owns the strands and the timer, so the job moves to the seasonal service line on the same drawing.
| Line |
Year one (C9 seasonal, lights included) |
Year two (seasonal service, customer-owned) |
| Roofline, 120 ft |
$8 per ft, $960.00 |
$3 per ft, $360.00 |
| Peaks, 36 ft, plus 15 percent peak premium |
$9 per ft, $372.60 |
$3.50 per ft, $144.90 |
| Jump, 6 ft |
$4 per ft, $24.00 |
$1.50 per ft, $9.00 |
| Timer |
$45.00 |
Owned, $0 |
| Total before tax |
$1,401.60 |
$513.90 |
| Deposit at booking, 30 percent |
$420.48 |
$154.17 |
Year two is 36.7 percent of year one on this house, and the crew spends the same two hours on the ladder. If a strand fails the test on install day, it goes on as a replacement line at that day's price. Forty of these houses rebooked in August is $20,556 of labour with no product to buy, which is why the August message is the most profitable thing a seasonal installer sends all year. You can re-draw the house in the free roofline tool if last year's drawing was on paper; the seasonal service rates live in the full product.
How does a signed lease change the rebook?#
It takes the rebook away. When a 1, 3 or 5 season lease is signed in GlowBid, each season's install job and takedown job are created from it, so the season 2 install is on the board the following August without anyone re-entering it. The renewal clause in our template gives 60 days' notice before the end of the term and renews one season at a time, so the last-season conversation happens in September, not November. The lease vs buy guide has the three-season numbers, and the storage guide covers the asset record that goes with every leased house.
How do I measure my own rebook rate?#
Count it on October 31 and split it by who owns the lights. Customers served last season on the bottom, customers signed for this season by October 31 on top. Then run it three ways: customers who own their lights, customers on your lights one season at a time, and customers on a lease. LightQuoter's page says the best shops rebook 60 to 80 percent and offers no source for it, so use it as a target and write your own number down every November. The split tells you what to sell: if the lease group comes back at a higher rate than the owner group, the August message to owners should carry a lease offer.
Mistakes that cost the second season#
- Pricing year two as "half off" year one. The product was half the price; the ladder time was not. Price the labour line by run type.
- Sending the first message in October. The August customers took the good weeks; October is a booking request.
- A price increase that appears on the invoice. Say it in August with the reason.
- No skip option. "Not this year" with no easy reply becomes "never" by default.
- Testing the strands on the customer's driveway. Test them in the shop in July and put replacements on the August quote.
- No takedown line on a customer-owned re-install. The January afternoon is labour whether or not it is on the quote.
- Sending the August text with no unsubscribe line. Two years of implied consent does not remove the identification and unsubscribe rules.
How GlowBid runs the rebook#
Last year's drawing is the quote. On Core the rate card carries a seasonal service product line with its own per-foot rates by run type, so the year-two price comes off the same runs as year one with the product cost gone; the customer signs on their phone and pays the deposit through Stripe. On Pro the pipeline adds a Re-book stage next to Takedown, quote follow-up sequences run from the August send, and quote-view tracking tells you who opened it. A signed lease creates each season's install and takedown jobs on any plan. Photo measurements are estimates confirmed on site, and every quote says so. Founding pricing is $299 a year for Core and $499 for Pro on the pricing page, 7-day trial, no card, 100 founding places, the full product opening November 1, 2026.
